A motor vehicle door lock of the above-mentioned design is, for instance, disclosed in utility patent DE 20 2008 015 789 U1. Closing devices for motor vehicle doors are usually used for moving, for instance, a motor vehicle door from its intermediate locking position into its main locking position. During this process considerable counterforces normally have to be overcome, which are generally applied during this process by compressed rubber door seals. With the aid of the generally electrically actuated closing device, the closing operation is particularly comfortable and simple.
Furthermore, opening devices are known that generally ensure the opening of a locking mechanism. Such opening aids are, for instance, disclosed in DE 10 2004 052 599 A1 in which reference is made to the also relevant DE 20 2008 007 310 U1. In the simplest case, such opening devices or opening aids use an electric drive, lifting a pawl off a rotary latch of a closed locking mechanism. As a result, the rotary latch can be opened with the aid of a spring and a previously engaged locking bolt, thus releasing the entire respective motor vehicle door.
Closing devices or closing aids often have the problem of so-called emergency interruption, as disclosed in the aforementioned DE 20 2008 015 789 U1. Such an emergency interruption is, amongst others, required when the closing operation is to be cancelled. Examples for such scenarios are where an operator's finger or hand enters the door gap to be closed. Or in case, where for instance a coat of the operator gets stuck in the door gap.
In all of these emergency interruption cases, the closing operation must be stopped, where possible, without delay and in a reliable manner and, in the most favorable case, the door should be opened or released at the same time. For this purpose, DE 20 2008 015 789 suggests a procedure in which the closing/opening device with its transfer element blocks the movement and does not activate the locking mechanism. In this way a stop interacting with the transfer element ensures that in the described blocking case a part of the generated blocking force is transferred directly onto the stop. As a result, the overall force acting between the driving pawl and the locking mechanism is reduced.
Generally, the driving pawl or closing pawl acts directly or indirectly on the rotary latch. As soon as the rotary latch is in the intermediate locking position, the driving pawl is acted upon by a motor in such a way that the rotary latch is moved from the intermediate locking position into the main locking position. This is naturally only one example.
In practical application more and more motor vehicle door locks are used that are or should be equipped with a closing aid and an opening aid. On one hand this is because of higher comfort requirements and, on the other hand, due to the fact that such aids are becoming increasingly cheaper due to the already high numbers of devices produced and have thus become a mass product. Such motor vehicle door locks do, however, have a relatively complicated design, in particular where they should also provide the option of providing an emergency interruption of the closing operation. The invention aims to remedy this situation.